Quite literally away with the faeries

Monthly Archives: April 2014

There is a stranger amongst the residents of the cave-riddled village of Reynier, France. Suspicious, they believe there’s only one reason Maurelle Dupre would be lurking in their small village—she’s a gypsy, a thief. But a former Chicago detective turned mystery author, Dave Martin, who happens to be visiting his French grandmother, isn’t so sure about the beautiful stranger when happenstance causes them to meet. He wonders why she seems so frightened and distrustful. He knows he shouldn’t get involved. The last time he trusted a woman in distress, the consequences resulted in the loss of his detective’s shield and his wife. But, as always, the detective in him can’t seem to leave well enough alone.

However, what Dave couldn’t know is how persuading Maurelle to reveal herself will ultimately unveil something far worse than mere theft.

Yes, I loved the books. The films were… okay. The games were just plain weird. But yes, as soon as I read the words “the Chosen One”, my heart sank. It’s not that it’s a bad concept or anything, it just irritates the hell out of me when something that has previously had no mention of deity or higher power suddenly has a plot device in which the main character has been chosen by aforementioned Higher Power to achieve greatness.

In Harry Potter for example, who exactly was it that “chose” Harry? Wizard God? Merlin himself?

Don’t get me wrong, I love this franchise. I loved it so much, I glossed over the Chosen One business and it became one of my biggest fandoms.

However, like all ranting madwomen, I’m a massive hypocrite. I’m guilty of this little plot point… in the original, and in the sequel. Which is currently in progress, more on that later. In The Old Ways, Thomas is chosen by the Old Gods to– well, spoilers. But still…

And in the sequel, I broke my biggest rule of “never include a seer or a prophecy”, and included both. The Keeper of Lore, a past-keeping, present-watching, future-seeing, general know-it-all thorn in my side with a massive tome in her lap. And what do you know, she comes complete with her own flavour of mysticism and a prophecy that, thankfully, doesn’t rhyme. I couldn’t get the wording right.

And although I don’t seem that happy with her, I’ve been planning her for ages. I think I’m just bitter because I had to prise apart two chapters and stick hers in the middle, which means I had to go into every subsequent chapter and insert references to her, and memories, and foreshadowing, and… gugh, I’m going to go pass out…